


Hotel Mortem

by Awkward_Wong



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-18
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2020-01-15 21:01:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18507004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Awkward_Wong/pseuds/Awkward_Wong





	1. Chapter 1

Where is a good place to start? Oh yeah, probably the day my life turned for the worse. I'm Nico by the way, nice to meet you. I was sitting at the edge of the lake in Hyde park, talking to one of my friends, Elliot. His hair was a faded green, with his roots growing back into their blond colour, and his ripped jeans were black. He picked at the neck of his faded pink t-shirt, with his other arm slung over my shoulder. He was as he had always been, smiling and laughing. But that all faded when we both heard someone snicker. He turned his head, and his dark eyes hardened. A group of guys were standing a bit away, snickering at the sight of us. Elliot stood up abruptly, and I could see the way he puffed himself up, ready for a fight. I tugged at his wrist and said,

“Elliot, leave them alone, they’re not worth it,”

in my usual quiet tone. I tried to remain calm until I heard them mutter and laugh, hearing them say something similar to

“Go back to your country, ching ling.”

I had no idea why he called me this, even though I look a tiny bit korean I am nothing compared to my grandparents. I stood up suddenly, but still kept my calm composure. I walked over to them, and the (apparent) leader of the group stepped forward. The young man put his hand on my left shoulder and snickered,

“This isn’t about you _ching ling,_ so go home.”

I lifted the hand off my shoulder only to feel a sharp pain in my cheek. I stumbled back and realised that the man had slapped me.

“Get lost _ching ling_.”

In less than a second, I had grabbed the man's hand, and flipped him over my shoulder. He gasped as he hit the ground, and out of the corner of my eye I could see Elliot standing with a huge grin on his face. The man got up, raising his fiss, ready for a fight. I turned around to walk away, and felt a blunt pain at the back of my head. That idiot had sucker punched me. I turned and glared at him, but he snickered. When he moved in again, I sidestepped his punch, and thrusted my wrist into his jaw. He stumbled back again, but was not yet deterred. He yelled and charged, trying to scare me, but I did the same thing again, flipping him to the ground.

“You’ll regret this,” the man muttered.

Elliot chuckled and slung his arm around my shoulders again. He then proceeded to pull us away from the group of men, with the leader lying cursing on the ground. Elliot’s chuckle turned into a hysterical laugh, as we stumbled out of Hyde park. He had always done this thing where he would walk me to my street, but was always afraid of walking up to the apartment complex, because he thought my parents didn’t like him. On the contrary they thought that he was a great friend, and they had noticed that my mood had perked up from quiet and numb to quiet and happy. When we got to the start of my street, he gave me a quick hug before walking home. I watched him walk away for a bit, before walking down my own street. When I reached my building I pulled my keys out of my pocket, but something caught my eye. The shadow of a large thing standing at the corner of the building. I didn’t think anything of it and unlocked the door, opening it just enough to slip through before closing it, hearing it lock with a click. I crossed through the lobby and started walking up the stairs, and I glanced over my shoulder, seeing the large thing standing at the glass doors. The only thing I could make out was its startling yellow eyes, and a snippet of something blue. A shiver ran down my spine, and I turned around and continued up the stairs. After two flights of stairs I was standing on in the hallway, quite winded but not breathing too hard. When I regained my silent breathing I stepped through the front door and walked to my room. My parents weren’t home yet, so the Young family’s apartment was mostly devoid of sound. I looked at the clock and saw that it was 16:30. I thought nothing of it, until I remembered that I had a theater performance to be in. I quickly grabbed my coat and shoes and was out of the door.

15 minutes later, I was standing in the lobby of The Harold Pinter theatre and was met by the lady with piercing green eyes. She was the director of this performance and she gave me an angry stare, her eyes as hard as emeralds. She grabbed my arm and pulled me to the backstage area, her red ponytail fluttering behind her. Without a word she threw me into the dressing room and slammed the door. I stood in the empty dressing room, holding up the costume. I then quickly slipped out of my clothes and into the costume. A large black cape draped over the suit I wore and a large white mask with an attached hair cap covered part of my face and head. I walked over to the makeup station.

“OMG, you look _perf_ ,” Avery exclaimed, appearing behind me. Her bright pink hair streaked with red was bound back in a bun. I laughed and thanked her, and she then followed up with,

“Let’s ruin that.”

She then proceeded to put me in my prosthetic makeup, making my face look scarred and deformed in the part that would be covered by the mask. While she was doing this, she filled me in with the latest gossip.

“Did you hear that Wendall got a new girlfriend?”

“Really another one? What a casanova,” I replied.

“Yeah, by the way, Gregory and Shawn broke up.”

“Oh no, but they were perfect for eachother,” I said, a slight sadness creeping into my voice.

“Yeah, that hit me hard, since I just got into a new relationship myself.”

I turned around, a large smile creeping on my face,

“Well that’s great, I thought Skylar ruined you.”

“I thought so too, but I have now officially moved on.”

I gave a small applause and looked in the mirror. Half of my coal black hair covered with a skin-like prosthetic covered in scars, and my normally wide hard eyes were as brown and warm as ever. _You fraud_ , I thought to myself, _This isn’t you_. A guilt crept into me and threatened to take root, but I quickly shoved it away and put the mask on, covering the prosthetic. I then readied myself, following the script, waiting for my cue. Then as I heard my cue, I appeared, the phantom followed by the ever so ominous organ music. I saw how my mere presence enlisted staged terror in the actors’ eyes, and shock in audience. And I saw the terror intensify when I delivered my first line.

Then came the golden moment, the moment the chandelier would drop. It sailed through the air, every crystal glittering as the light hit it. But something was wrong, it was too quick, and a bit out of course. Judging from where it was going it looked like it was going to hit… Maria. The diva of the play, her beautiful red hair framing her pale smooth face, her staged fear replaced with the fear of staring death in the face, if death was in the shape of a giant chandelier. I sprinted from my place behind the stage and pushed her out of the way, just as the chandelier crashed to the ground, with me right under it. I heard the whole room gasp, and a single shriek of shock. A sound way too familiar. In a tearful haze I saw a familiar green haired boy standing with his hands over his mouth. I felt every rib crack, every bone break, as the sharp ends of the chandelier were digging into my back.

“NICO!”

I heard him scream, and saw him climbing over seats and people. There was a tug and a gross squelch as they pulled the chandelier up, and a single snap as something held on. I could feel the warmth spreading through my body, soaking through my clothes and pooling around me. I wanted to scream, but every yelp of excruciating pain was stuck in my throat. I let the tears flow down my cheeks, and I felt someone lifting me into an embrace. I opened my eyes and was now lying on my back and in the arms of Elliot. I tugged out the crystal still embedded in my stomach. I reached up and brushed a weak hand over his hair, before closing my eyes, as he clutched me tighter.


	2. Chapter 2

When I opened my eyes again I stood in some sort of little courtyard. I slowly turned, taking in my surroundings. The ground was covered in soft plush grass, and a gravel path was leading from where I was standing to the set of cloudy glass doors in front of me. Behind me was a few patches of flowers and a large set of stone gates. It was engraved with ancient languages, some sort of warnings maybe? I don’t know. I continued up to the glass doors and saw that printed on the glass with curved, golden letters stood Hotel Mortem. I tried to get a closer look, but they slid open silently, letting the warm air flow out. I walked into the lobby, feeling my shoes sink deep into the red velvety carpet. The tall, white walls were plain, and the room was empty except for a desk with a tired looking man sitting behind it, his badge saying hotel manager.

“Good evening how may I help you?” he mumbled, blinking slowly as he eyed me up.

“Um can you tell me where I am?” I asked nervously, still glancing around the room.

“Welcome to Hotel Mortem, the place where the noble dead rest for eternity, what is your name, noble dead?” he said, his monotone voice droning on. Before I could really think about his statement about ‘the noble dead’ I said,

“Nico Young.”

“Is that Nico with a c or a k?”

“With a c.”

“One moment please.”

I heard him clicking in the name on a monitor hidden under the edge of the counter.

“Ah yes I see yo have been written up for room 150005, and to show you up,”

he turned to his left and yelled

“ICARUS!.”

I couldn’t get to react before a teenager a bit older than me, burst into the room from a door hidden behind the wall. The man behind the counter acted like nothing had happened and said “Lead this young man to room 150005.” The young man, Icarus I presumed, turned to me and said “Follow me.” He then turned and started walking down the hallway that was diagonally behind the front desk. As we walked down the hallway I saw that the wall to the right was open, showing the lavish living rooms with plush sofas and warm fireplaces, and the many games and stuff like ping-pong and foosball. A bunch of people were already playing them, but a bit more extreme. The people playing ping-pong, were playing while the ball was on fire, and I couldn’t see that much of the foosball game, but the peeks I got made it look like the ball was covered in spikes and legs, and it was somehow shrieking quietly. I didn’t get a closer look before Icarus and I had turned the corner and reached the elevator. He just pushed two buttons and pulled some lever. We stood for a while, listening to the jazz tunes serenading us from the speakers, but the most distracting part was that he was staring at face, I’m guessing at the mask. He then suddenly said,

“Phantom of the Opera?.”

I nodded with a smile, and his face sorta lit up, but not quite.

“I read it for the first time a few centuries ago, and have reread it every decade since,”

and he stopped when we reached floor 14, and moved to my room, number 150005. He gave me a short look and started walking away, but I felt like I should give him something. So I pulled off the mask and handed it to him. His eyes lit up and he took it gingerly from my hands, before giving me a quick hug and rushing off. I turned to the door and searched for the handle. After searching for a while I found nothing. I started thinking, and in my train of thought I tapped my knuckle against the plank of wood. It swung open soundlessly and revealed the beautiful interior. There was a small entry room that opened up to a larger room with smaller sections. As I walked in and took off my shoes, I walked to the center and saw that there was a circle of green grass. At the edge of it, supporting the roof was a large tree, and it sort of reminded me of Hyde park, where I had been sitting with Elliot earlier today. I put my hand to the trunk and saw the sunlight filtering through the branches. Why did this happen to me? Did this have anything to do with the strange thing outside the apartment? Now that I think of it I saw something very reminiscent of a pair of glowing eyes watching me in the play. But I didn’t have time to think of it. I walked to the part with the bathroom, and pulled the curtain that separated it from the rest of the room. I threw off the bloody costume and turned on the water. I washed off the blood and make up, but I realized that my body was different. Not bad, just different. I had always been skinny but now I was muscular and slim. I was mesmerized and probably spent 10 minutes examining my new self. I ran my hands up and down my arms, feeling the muscles under the skin, and up and down my stomach, feeling the small bumps of my abdominal muscles. I step out of the shower and open the closet. Inside was a whole lineup of purple t-shirts, flannels and hoodies, all with a golden cursive HM embroidered on the left of the chest. I slipped on a t-shirt and some black jeans. I slipped into some black boots and walked out of my room. As I did I heard another door open and a bit further down the hall, another door opened. I looked over and saw a tall guy with coal black hair and tan skin. He looked over and saw me standing in front of my door. His face broke into a bright smile and he walked over, his bright blue-greenish eyes sparkling.

“Hi you’re the new guy right?” he asked, and I gave him a nod.

“Great, nice to meet you, I’m Alexander Petridis, but you can call me Alex.”

I returned his smile and said,

“Nice meeting you too, I’m Nicolas Young, but you can call me Nico.”

He slung a towel over his shoulder and that’s when I realized that he was only wearing a pair of tight swim trunks and a pair of sandals.

“I’m going to the pool, wanna join me?”

I wrapped my arms around myself and said,

“I don’t have the body to go to the pool.”

He just laughed and said,

“If you are anything like me, you have a pretty good bod under that shirt.”

I blushed and said,

“I’ll be out in a minute.”

I walked into my room and got changed again, this time into a pair of swim trunks exactly like Alex’. I grabbed a towel and walked back out into the hallway. Just as I walked out, Alex was right at the door asking,

“Ready?”

I nodded and he led me to the elevator. He led me to the 143rd floor, and the slight smell of chlorine wafted through the elevator when the doors opened. We followed the glass wall that created a hallway around the pool, until he found the door. He opened it, and a strong scent of chlorine washed over us. Alex threw both of our towels on a lounge chair, and jumped in headfirst. I quickly followed his lead, and felt the cool water wash over my head. As I resurfaced I felt an arm slither around my shoulders. He laughed and said,

“I told you, that you had a nice bod”

I chuckled along with him and we kept playing in the water. I had been an ok swimmer, but Alex was almost born in the water. We splashed playfully at each other, and holding breath holding competitions. We were laughing until Alex looked at the clock and said,

“Come on we have to get ready before dinner.”

 

I was pulled out of my book by a knock on the door. I was wearing a purple long sleeved shirt, with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows.I walked over to the door and opened it, standing face to face with Alex, and he was wearing a purple t-shirt with skinny blue jeans.

“Are you ready for dinner?”, he asked, to which I nodded.

He lead me to the elevator and took me to the second floor. The doors opened and a long hallway opened up with rows of elevators on either side. We walked down the hallway and followed the flow of people streaming through a large set of golden doors. I was taken aback by the sheer size of the room. The huge domed roof was hundreds of meters above us, and the towering walls were decorated with gold and silver. The floor was covered in a carpet of plush grass, and huge wooden tables were placed around the room. I had thought of it before and turned to Alex asking,

“Why is everyone here so young? What happens to the older dead that died nobelly?”

He just chuckled and said, “Well some of them eat earlier and some eat later, but they usually do separate activities for the older generations.”

I just nodded and let him pull me to a table. There were already a few people sitting there, and I could already tell I was the youngest. I sat down next to Alex an across from some girl. Her skin was the colour of chocolate and her coal black curls framed her face. Her dark eyes sparkled as she gave me a greeting smile, before she resumed the conversation to the boy sitting beside her. His sandy blond hair was cut very short and his pale eyes seemed cloudy. And even as he was talking to the girl he seemed to be looking past her, not at her. Alex almost immediately started talking with the girl next to him, her short hair an electric blue to contrast her golden eyes and caramel skin. As everyone had been seated, and the room was buzzing with voices, the food started appearing. All the plates and cutlery dropped from the ceiling, and as the large dishes hit the table, food appeared on them. The chalices remained empty but Alex told me, “Just think about what you want to drink, but no alcohol of course.” But even as he said that, his chalice filled with a dark liquid that smelled suspiciously of wine. I decided not to ask him and reached out for a bowl of stew. I reached for the chalice and it immediately filled with my favorite drink, korean coffee milk. I sat there eating my stew, not talking to anyone, like a loser. I started humming “ _You are my sunshine”_ absentmindedly, as I stirred the stew. As I was humming I didn’t notice how quiet the people around me had gotten. Alex’ chuckle pulled me back to reality, and I realized that all of his friends were staring at me, even the cloudy eyed boy. I suddenly felt very self conscious and was blushing deeply. Just as Alex was about to comment, there was a screech of feedback from a microphone at the front of the room. We all turned our attention and saw the hotel manager standing at a podium. He smiled widely and said,

“Hello all you worthy dead, hope you had a nice meal, I would like to welcome the new arrivals.”

He glared as the people clapped, his smile tightening. He cleared his throat and faced the tables and said,

“Due to new protocol, the scenes of death from the new arrivals will be judged, and watched by the people in this room, so sit back, relax and bring the bringers to the front.”

Three people rose, all looking very confused and walked to the front. One was a tall boy with violet hair . The second was a shorter boy with rosy hair. The third was the girl from our table, all of their gold eyes shimmering in the dimming light emanating from the walls. They quietly lined up in the room and just sorta looked at the hotel manager. He just looked at them like they were idiots, pointed at his eyes and just waved his arms up at the large canvas strung to the wall. The tall one just nodded and faced the canvas, but the other too look just as confused as before. The hotel manager irritably took out a remote and pressed play. The boys eyes flashed and the hotel manager pulled out a list and said,

“Sydney Maxwell, stand up.”

A red-headed girl stood up nervously and stared at the screen. That’s when the video appeared on the canvas and it showed the girl in a bank. As the video played it turned out that there were two armed people in the bank. She was slowly talking to one of the robbers, calming him down, and even coaxing him into giving her the gun. But just as she had curled her fingers around the gun, the other robber shot her clean through the neck, and the video cut out.

“Well”, the manager said, “She died sort of rescuing people and with a weapon in her hands, so she is indeed qualified for Hotel Mortem!”

and a huge applause spread around the room, while the girl turned beet red and sat back down. As the clapping quieted the hotel manager read the next name from the list.

“Phyllis Crowder.”

A girl with short cropped hair stood up and scowled at the screen, almost like it was mocking her. The boy with the rosey hair stepped forward and fearfully turned to the screen. The video started playing and it showed a classroom with all the student hiding under the tables except for Phyllis who was hiding behind the door with something in her clutches. A man burst through the door with a gun. As soon as he was in front of her, Phyllis jumped onto his back and started aggressively stabbing him with a pair of scissors. The man screamed and slammed her against the wall and the video cut off. The room was quiet as Phyllis glared at the room, daring them to applaud. The hotel manager just said,

“Qualified”,

and did a hand motion to get on with it. And as the girl with the blue hair stepped up, the manager called out something I didn’t want to hear.

“Nico Young.”

 

 

“Nico Young, stand up young man.”

A few chuckles spread around the room as I nervously got to my feet. The video started playing, and it showed the stage, which seemed surprisingly small, and all the actors of the scene. I wasn’t even on screen yet. And then it happened, the “golden moment”. The chandelier sailed through the air, glittering as the crystals caught the light. I saw it flying straight towards Maria. That's when I ran in from behind the scenes and pushed her out of the way. I felt my stomach twist in pain when the moment came. I saw myself get impaled by the falling chandelier. The gnawing sensation burned in my stomach as I saw myself slam to the floor, with drops of blood fluttering through the air. I looked into my own eyes, wide with shock, as my head slammed into the floor. And that’s when the video cut. It showed nothing of Elliot holding me in his arms, it showed nothing of me pulling out the crystal stuck inside of me. The whole room erupted into laughter. The hotel manager wiped his tears away and chuckled,

“Well, that doesn’t qualify for anything.”

“Play the rest”, the blue-haired girl said, a cold rage behind her voice.

“I’m sorry what did you say, Blue?”, the manager wheezed, still trying to calm his hysterical laughter down.

“Play. The. Rest" she repeated, a deadly edge in her voice.

The managers chuckle quieted a bit, but stopped completely but stopped when he saw murder painted in her face. He played the rest of the clip where it showed me pulling the crystal out of my stomach and Elliot rushing onto the stage, and then it cut. Blue now turned to face the manager and coldly said, “He died saving someone, and with the weapon that killed him in his hand, so he is just as qualified as anyone else in this room.” The manager gulped and said,

“Welcome to Hotel mortem, new arrivals, dinner is over and playtime is set to begin in a tomorrow.”

The whole room cheered and started streaming out of the hall. Alex caught my arm and led me back to our floor. I suddenly realized that the people from our table were here too. Alex turned to me with a smile and said,

“See you in an later.”

 

 

When Alex knocked on my door the day after the announcement, I knew that this “playtime” was about to begin. When I stepped into the hall, the sight that met me was surprising. Alex was standing in full Greek armor, leaning on a bronze trident.

“What is about to happen?”, I asked seeing the other people from our table dressed in some sort of armor and weapons.

“Playtime”, was his only answer.

Alex walked in said,

“Nice place”, and opened the bottom drawer of my closet.

In the drawer was a set of protective body armor, but a modern kind that was a black jumpsuit that covered me from head to toe. I slipped on the matching cleats, and found a single weapon lying at the bottom. A dagger made from crystal, and a very familiar crystal. Its blade made the light shatter into a rainbow. I slipped into a loop on the jumpsuit located on my forearm. I turned to the others and followed them down the hall, to the lobby. We walked past the many rooms with all types of entertainment, until we reached a large gate. I looked at the other in my group and took in their appearance. The girl with the black hair was wearing a dark jumpsuit, but without any protection, and a set of golden gauntlets on her hands. The guy with the milky eyes was wearing a long, white coat, and a green outfit, while his sleeves were rolled up, revealing the many tattoos on his forearms and palms. The girl with the blue hair was wearing a shiny silver set of armor, with a huge battleaxe resting on her shoulders. The last one was sort of unexpected, the boy with the rosey hair. He was clutching a thin, two sided, fencing sword and with a small amount of armor. Alex turned and said,

“Before we go onto the battlefield, we should introduce each other to Nico.”

The black-haired girl said,

“Hi, I’m Symphony Cox, nice to meet you”,

and shook my hand. The cloudy eyed boy said,

“I’m Henry Stein.”

The blue-haired girl just said,

“Blue.”

The rose-haired boy said,

“You can call me Rosey.”

Alex nodded and pushed open the gate. The gate opened up to a huge courtyard, with forests, plains, houses, creeks, rivers and lakes. Without warning a man with a long beard jumped out from next to the door, and slashed downward with a sword. Alex quickly blocked his sword, and Rosey rushed in, slicing open the other man’s stomach. We all rushed out, heading straight for the forest. When we reached the treeline, I tapped Alex on the shoulder and pointed up at the trees. He understood the message, and hoisted me up into the branches. I started running alongside them, dashing from tree to tree, feeling energy surging through my body. But my body halted to a stop when I heard the war cry. I saw my team in battle below me, Alex fighting like god, swirling and blocking and slashing with his trident. Blue was demonic, swinging her battleaxe with lethal force. Rosey blocking every strike with expertise, and slashing when able. Symphony was brute forcing her way back to the group, bashing through groups of people. Henry was the only one speaking. He was mostly just mumbling, but his image seemed to be flickering. That was until he yelled,

“Get back!”

Everyone from our group rushed behind him, including me. Henry raised his arms and yelled,

“Ignis.”

A word on his arm glowed and the air in front of him exploded with fire. The trees were scorched black, the bodies of the enemy smouldering.

“Alex”, Blue said, “I think we’re moving in to big of a group, let's split into teams of three.”

Alex nodded and decided to take Rosey and me with him. We wished the others good luck and ran off from them. I decided to draw my knife and walked in between the two boys soundlessly. Alex stopped us when he heard a rustling in the bushes. He pointed up into the trees, just as I had done. He hoisted both Rosey and me into the tree, and started climbing it himself. Suddenly a lady sprang from the bushes. It was Phyllis, one of the other new arrivals. I yelled at Alex to watch out, and he turned around just in time to block her spear. They started sparring, and I started slowly creeping down the tree. Rosey just looked at me, but didn’t try to stop me. That's when I saw Alex lying on his back, his trident impaled in the ground beside him, and he was trying desperately to keep the tip of Phyllis’ spear from his chest. I didn’t want to fight so I wanted to try and deescalate the situation.

“Phyllis”, I said calmingly, “You don’t have to do this, violence isn’t the answer, you don’t have to take your anger out on everyone else. We can get you through this without having anyone get hurt.”

I put all my sincerity into my voice, and saw her eyes glaze over. She pulled her spear back a bit, clearly confused. Then she snapped back and threw the spear through my stomach. I started staggering off, just as I heard the squelch of someone getting stabbed. I kept staggering for a while until I was on the large plain. A bunch of people were fighting nearby and saw me as an easy target so they all let out a series of war cries, as they stormed towards me. I heard Alex yell something, and saw him throw his trident. As it spun through the air, it collected the water from nearby, until it was a swirling vortex of water that slammed into the giant crowd. I just got to see the look of triumph on his face disappear, before tumbling into darkness again.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3  
I woke up with a start, still clutching my stomach. I was in bed for some reason, and I was only in my underwear. I looked down expecting to see a scar or a bandage, but I seemed perfectly fine. I put on a beige ¾ sleeves shirt, one of my own belongings, and black jeans, and tied a purple flannel around my waist. I walked out into the hallway and remembered Alex. I walked over to his door and knocked. No response. I waited for a bit before I knocked again. I heard a door open behind me and a very sleepy Symphony walked out.

“Oh”, she said surprised at seeing me, “You healed fast.”

  
I looked at her a bit confused but didn’t ask any questions at it. I instead asked,

“Where’s Alex?”

She leaned against the doorway and said,

“He was taken into confinement for possession of an unauthorized enchanted weapon, I actually just got out of questioning a few hours ago.”

  
“Why did you have to go through questioning, are you alright, what’s going to happen with Alex?”, I asked rapid fire.

She looked shocked at the speed of the questions asked. She then answered,

“I was questioned for being close to him, and for if I was in possession of something similar. I am ok just a bit shaken up and tired, and no I don’t know what’s going to happen to him, but I think he’s being kept on the 417th floor.”

  
I just shyly asked,

“Would you like to look for him with me?”

  
She smiled and made a in a moment sign, before retreating to her room. She then walked out of her room. Her hair was in a ponytail, and she was wearing a purple dress with a leather belt around her waist. Her black leggings stopped over the ankle, where her red high tops began.

“Lets go”, she said, shouldering a messenger bag I hadn’t noticed.

We walked to the elevator and rode it to the 417th floor. When the doors opened, there was a short hallway with two guards and a door at the end. The walls were sterile white, and so were the guards’ uniforms. They were both holding spears, and helmets covered their faces. We walked down the corridor, glancing nervously at each other. When we reached the door, the guards yelled

“Stop!”, and lowered their spears.

I was about to run when Symphony reached both her hands into the bag. I knew what she was going to do, and put a shaky hand on her elbow. I cleared my throat and said,

“Hello, we are looking for our friend and we think he might be on this floor, maybe even in the room behind you guys. So can you please let us in?”

  
The spears sank even lower as they looked at each other in, what i can only guess was, confusion. They then clutched their spears to their sides and opened the door, and one of them said, “Hope you find your friend.”  
We both looked at each other and she just shrugged and walked in, with me hurrying after her.

 

 

The sight that met us was terrifying. Set after set of chain hung from the wall, each one of them caked with dried blood. One figure huddled against the wall, her bright blue hair too recognizable.

“Blue!”, Symphony cried out.

The girl looked up, her eyes full of fear and animosity.

“Please”, she whispered, “No more.”

  
Symphony cried out again, and ran to the bloodied girls side. I kept walking and saw the man hanging from the wall.

“Alex!”, I screamed, tears now streaming down my face.

He looked up, his face full of pain and fear.

“Nico?”, he mumbled, his confusion showing clearly, “Is it you?”

  
“Yes Alex it’s me, I’m here don’t worry.”

  
I jumped up and tugged at the chain, but stopped immediately as I heard Alex yell in pain. I saw how the shackle dug into his flesh.

“Symphony, help me, please!” I yelled, and saw her rush over.

Her gauntlets were already on her hands, and the fury was already painted on her face. She grabbed the chain and crushed it in her hand, doing the same to the other one. Alex collapsed to his knees, and reached out in the air for something. I gently took his hands in mine, and picked him up. He was quite heavy, but I could take this, if he could survive whatever they did to him. I looked at Symphony and she gave me a nod. We both burst out of the door, bashing into the guards, and running to the elevator. We quickly hit 14 pulled the lever, and saw the guards running towards us just as the doors closed. We were both breathing heavily, while Alex and Blue were both quiet. When we reached our floor we barreled into Symphony’s room. The room was just like mine, but instead of the greenery in the center, there was a large array of marble statues.

“Come on” she said pulling us over to the bed.

She cleared off all the sheets until there was only the hard wooden surface. We put Alex and Blue there and immediately I saw the damage. Their wrists were bloody and raw, their arms riddled with cuts, and their bodies covered in burn wounds.

“We have to kill them”, Symphony said, her face tight with concern and focus.

  
“What”, I exclaimed looking at her with wide eyes.

“They’ll come back just like you did, and when they are back, we will escape.”

“Symphony, it wont work”, Alex groaned, “There isn’t enough time, just go without us.”

Her face tightened and said,

“No, I’ll call in Henry, he can do something.”

  
She ran off and left me with my mangled friends. I ran to the small kitchen area there was and grabbed a bowl. I filled it with water and grabbed some towels. I dipped the towels in the water and started cleaning the wounds. Alex winced and I whispered,

“Sorry”

He gave me a weak smile and said,

“Thanks for coming for me.”

  
I returned it tearfully,

“Of course I would come for you, you’re one of if not my very best friend.”

  
Just as he was about to say something, Symphony burst through the door with Henry in tow. She ushered him to the bed, and told him to heal Alex and Blue. He thrust out his hands, the sleeves slipping up to reveal his tattoos. He started waving his hand low across the two victims, mystical tendrils of energy snaking their way from his fingers across the wounded bodies. The words on his arms glowed faintly, one after the other. I looked at Alex’ face, the furrows in his brow smoothing out.

“Nico”, Symphony whispered, “Try saying something, your words seem to have some sort of impact on people.”

  
I looked at her strangely but then I remembered the times this had worked. During playtime when I had talked Phyllis out of stabbing Alex, at the door a couple of minutes ago when I had made the guards let us into the room. And when I thought of it, this might be the reason I was an ok actor, able to put the emotions I want into the audience, making every word feel real for the listener. So I held Alex’ hand and sang a song of feelings. The feeling of need, the need for people, for a person, for a friend. A song of flowers blooming, of springtime, of seasons, of joy. They both relaxed and soon their breathing turned heavy. We washed the rest of the blood off of them, as the last of their wounds closed. The scars faded until the skin was smooth again, with no signs of the torture they had to endure. We roused them awake. Alex just looked up at me sleepily, before sitting up and pulling me into a tight hug.

“Thank you for coming for me”, he whispered in my ear. “I always will.”

 

 

 

“I’m sorry that I ruined your shirt”, Alex said, as he looked at the bloodstains he had spread across the bottom of my shirt.

I laughed and said,

“Its ok, I can cut around it.”

“Cut?”, he asked.

I nodded and looked around the room. We had moved him to his room so he could get cleaned up. I found a pair of scissors and proceeded to take off the shirt. I heard Alex whistle, but I ignored him. I cut off just above the blood and folded the hem up, sewing it with some needle and thread he had lying around. When I put it back on, it stopped just above the naval, and I just readjusted the flannel shirt around my waist and boom, only a bit of midriff showing. I then ushered Alex into the shower and pulled the separating curtain. I then walked to the closet and opened it. I pulled out a pair of jeans and a purple sweater, as well as a swim team hoodie. I decided that I would give him some privacy and said,

“I’ll be waiting in my room, see you in a bit.”

“Wait”, he called, “Please don’t leave, I don’t think I can handle being alone.”

  
“Ok”

I said, and decided to take a closer look at his room. The center of the room was made of sandstone and a circle of teal crystals shone like ocean water, making watery patterns that danced across the walls. I heard the water shut off and covered my eyes. The curtain was drawn back and I heard his bare feet against the floor. I heard the rustle of clothing until I suddenly felt a set of strong arms around my waist. I leaned back and felt Alex’ chest pressed against my back, the heat from his body radiating off of him.

“Thank you for being my friend”, he said, before putting on the rest of his clothes.

When I turned he was wearing the hoodie and was holding the sweater. He then pulled a backpack out of his closet and stuffed the sweater into it. He walked around grabbing other stuff, like the scissors, bottles he filled with water, and everything food like that was supplied that he could fit. He then surprised me by pulling the trident he had been fighting with out from a hidden space in the back of the closet. He put it through a loop on his backpack and shouldered it turning to me.

“We should pack one for you too”, he said.

I nodded and we went to my room. I pulled out a nearly identical backpack, but found some different supplies. I found multiple first aid kits, a length of rope and some scarves. I decided to pack all of them and was about to grab my crystal dagger when I froze. I didn’t really want to bring this, the thing that killed me the first time. I decided to leave it and remembered the tree. I looked at it, at the sunlight filtering through.

“Alex”, I called.

He walked up behind me.

“What is it?” he asked, and I pointed up at the tree.

“Can you help me up?”

“Sure”, he said, as he readied himself for it.

I stepped into his hand and used him as a stepping stone to get into the branches. I climbed up and up until my head broke free of the foliage. And the sight surprised me more than anything I had experienced at the hotel. I was looking at Hyde park.

 

 

 

I immediately crawled back into my room and told Alex about it. His eyes grew wide in shock, and a grin started to break through.

“I’ll get the others”, he exclaimed happily.

“I’ll come with you”, I said as we walked to Symphony’s room.

We knocked and as soon as she opened Alex exclaimed, “We found a way out.” Symphony shushed him and pulled us inside.

“We have to be quiet, they just searched this room and now they’re searching yours. They’re looking for signs of you and Blue, they know you escaped”, she said as she started ushering everyone else towards the door.

Blue crept out from under the mattress, so her hair was spiked up strangely. We all stood at the door, listening as they moved from Alex’ room to another one. We all rushed out and funneled into my room. Except for Henry, who Symphony told us didn’t want to join.

“Rosey”, I remembered.

Alex nodded, “He has been talking about leaving for a while now, you just haven’t heard it, it would hurt him if we left without him.”

  
I started to open the door but quickly shut it again when I saw what was outside of it. The 2 men in white suits were standing in the hall chatting with Rosey in his doorway. When I heard them go into another room, I ran to Rosey’s door. I knocked frantically and as soon as he saw my face, he let me in.

“What’s wrong”, he asked, his rosey curls dancing across his eyes.

“We are leaving and we want to bring you along”, I said.

His face lit up and he rushed to his bed. From underneath it he produced a packed bag and he hooked his sheathed sword into his belt. He changed into a black hoodie with a rose on the chest. He plucked a single flower, a Chrysanthemum and entwined it in his hair.

“I’m ready” he said, a smile shining on his face. He then walked to the door and peeked outside.

“We’re clear”, he whispered, and we walked into the hallway. We crept over to my door and just as we reached my door, we heard another door creep open. We froze.

“There!”, someone yelled and Rosey and I burst through the door.

“Hurry”, I yelled, and everyone jumped into action.

Alex threw Symphony up into the tree, and together they helped Blue up. Alex launched Rosey up and I grabbed my knife, it would have to do until I found something else. Alex then boosted me into the tree just as the soldiers kicked the door down. They rushed in just as Alex grabbed the bottom branches. We tried to pull him up, but the guards had jumped over and grabbed him by the ankles. We had a tug of war over Alex, until I decided to throw the dagger at the guards, hitting one of them square in the chest. As the red spot bloomed in his suit they both let go of Alex and he flew into the tree. We quickly crawled to the top and felt the cool morning breeze brush against our faces. We crawled over the tree, along the outer branches, and jumped to the ground. Right next to a familiar green haired figure. He jumped as we landed, and I looked into the tearful, dark eyes of my best friend Elliot.

 

 

 

“Nico? Is it really you?”, he asked with a shaky voice.

“I guess it is”, I said as I opened my arms a bit, knowing what his next move would be.

He rushed up into a standing position and ran into me. He crashed into me, his arms wrapped around my neck as he cried into my shoulder. I clutched him close to me, burying my face into his shoulder, taking in his scent, the strong smell of flowers with a hint of sweat filling my senses.

“Y- you were dead, your heat st- stopped, you weren’t breathing”, he stammered through his sobs.

“Yes but don’t worry, I’m here now”, I said stroking his back as I held back my own tears.

I had to stay strong for him, even though with each sob he let out, I felt myself get closer to breaking down myself. I pulled back a bit, and looked at him, his hair a bit longer than I remembered it. His face then switched from joy to a bit more focused look, a questioning one.

“How are you alive?”, he asked. I had known that this would happen.

  
“I’m not”, I sighed. He looked at me confused before asking “Well then how are you here?”

  
This time Alex stepped in for me with an explanation.

“He is a warrior of the afterlife, reborn to fight for the end of the world”.

Elliot turned and looked at him before asking me, “Who are they?”.

I looked at them and said, “They are some friends that I met at the luxurious hotel of the afterlife”.

He raised his eyebrow at me and asked, “If it’s so luxurious”, he then turned to the rest of the group, “Why did you leave?”.

Blue stepped forward and said, “Luxury isn’t worth it in the face of eternity. It isn’t worth it in a place that punishes you for owning something special. A place like that will never be worth spending the afterlife.”

  
He looked back at me and said, “We have to tell your parents.”

  
I shook my head and said, “It’s better if they think I’m dead, because I won’t be going home.”

  
He just looked at me weirdly until I explained that we were on the run and could be found at any moment.

“I don’t want to put my parents under that much worry after they just put their son in the ground.”

  
“Oh”, Elliot said, “They haven’t put you in the ground yet, you’re still in the funeral home, the funeral is tomorrow.”

  
I looked at my friends and asked, “Would you like to see what I used to look like?”

  
They all just shrugged, and I turned to Elliot.

“Would you like to come with us, or would you rather stay behind?”

  
He just said, “I’ll come with you, I’m fine with seeing you in the coffin with you next to me.”

  
I nodded and told them we had to make a small detour. We walked for a bit and stopped at my apartment building. I just realized that I didn’t have my keys. I looked panicked at Elliot, but he just calmly walked up to the buzzer and pressed the button for Young. It buzzed for a bit before I heard a tired “Hello?”

  
I knew who it belonged to, my little brother.

“Hey Jae, is it ok if I come up?”, Elliot said.

  
“Sure”, Jae responded, a bit of excitement creeping into his voice.

There was another buzz and Elliot opened the door. The others hesitated for a moment, but chose to follow us shortly after. We walked up the stairs and followed Elliot to the apartment I used to live in. Elliot stood in front of the door, and the rest of us flattened ourselves against the wall beside it. He knocked and when the door opened I heard a surprisingly happy

“Hi Elliot”, come from my little brother.

When the door closed I heard them walk off too his room and I tried opening the door. It quietly slid open and I peeked inside. The door to Jae’s room was closed and I could hear them talking about the latest chapter of the manga they both read, that I read too, and had forgotten all about. I shook my head to clear my thoughts and crept to my room. I looked around it quickly until I found what I was looking for. There, standing on my dresser, was my Daishō. The traditional long and short set of swords. I stood in front of the mirror as I hooked the sheathed swords to the back of the flannel shirt around my waist. I thought it looked ok so I quietly snuck back out of my room. I quickly dropped to the floor behind the couch when I heard my brothers door open. He and Elliot walked out and While Jae walked in front of the couch Elliot walked behind it right around me. He just stared at me when my brother laughed and that’s because I knew that my brothers round cheeks and wide smile usually closes his eyes for him when he’s happy. It’s then I realized how much I missed my brother, the sound of his laugh, the ways he would annoy me, everything about him. Elliot said goodbye and signaled for me to meet them downstairs. As Jae retreated to his room I decided to try and sneak out somehow. I figured that the window was an option, and that I was decent enough at climbing to go down two floors. I snuck to the window and opened it as I heard someone say, “Nico?”, behind me. I froze for a second and turned around slowly. I saw my little brother, eyes wide with surprise, the brown irises warm with joy. He ran over to me and hugged me tightly around my ribs. I hugged him back, burying my face in his jet black hair.

“It’s nice for you to be back from school”, he mumbled into my chest.

I pulled him back a bit and said, “School?”

He looked up at me with innocent eyes and said, “Yeah they said that you moved to Japan for a new school after the play, when you didn’t come home.”

  
I thanked my parents internally for saving me that explanation.

  
“Yeah but I came back to say goodbye to you”, I said as I poked his nose.

He giggled and I tickled him until he was rolling on the floor laughing begging for me to stop. I finally stopped and looked into this 11 year old boys eyes.

I then ruffled his hair and said, “Well I should get back to Japan, I have some homework to do.”

  
He tried to get me to stay for longer, but I stood my ground and told him, “Just don’t tell eomma and appa, ok?”

  
It was an old habit of mine, but I always called my mom and dad eomma and appa.

He asked, “Why not?”

“Because they don’t want me using all my money on plane tickets, so don’t tell them, ok?”

“Ok”, he said, and gave one last hug.

“Bye” I said, and waved to him. As I heard the key go into the lock I scrambled out the window and crouched on the small balcony.

“Hi Jae, how did you sleep?”, I heard my mother say, her voice as sugary sweet at always.

I heard him bounce up and down and he just said, “Nico visited.”

  
I rolled my eyes seeing as he totally ignored what I had just told him. I peeked over the windowsill and saw my parents look at each other concerned.

Then my dad said, “Jae, Nico is in Japan.”

  
“I know but he came back to visit me and say goodbye”, Jae said happily.

My parents just looked at each other again and said, “Well that’s nice of him.”

  
I felt my heart grow heavy when I realized that for my little brother, I would never come home from Japan. I shook it off me and decided that now was the time to leave.

 

 

 

The second I reached the glass door of the apartment complex, I saw my friends walking down the stairs. I waved to them and they walked out.

“How did you get down without getting noticed?”, Rosey asked, his eyes wide.

  
“I just climbed down”, I said, shrugging like it wasn’t anything special.

  
“From the second floor?”, Symphony asked.

I nodded. They nodded in recognition, except for Blue who just snorted.

We then all looked to Elliot, and he said, “Well then, to the funeral home.”

  
We walked for about 20 minutes before reaching the funeral home. It was closed so early in the morning, and we had no way to get inside. I took the small thin blade of my short sword and slid it in the crack of the door. With a click it opened and we were able to get inside. I was shocked that it even worked but no one complained. We walked through the hallway until we found the display room with my coffin in it. We followed the dark plum carpet that led to the pedestal with the coffin. Its sleek ebony wood polished and shiny, and the intricate, metallic designs resembled flowers. When I looked inside I saw the soft, red velvet lining. It was weird looking at myself like this. My closed eyes looked narrow and angular, my cheekbones looked sharp, my skin had obviously been smoothed to cover the acne scars, and it looked nothing like a 15 year old boy. The others circled the coffin and looked down into it. It was weird to see how much my chest stuck out, compared to the cave that was my stomach.

“You were really skinny, huh?”, Rosey said, looking from the corps to me and back again.

  
“He still is”, Blue responded, chuckling at the corpse in front of her.

“Yeah”, Alex said, brushing the hair from the dead ones forehead, “But he still sort of looks the same.”

When he said that he looked up at me with a smile, and I just realized that he complimented me, that this warped image of myself still looked like me. I felt myself turn red.

Alex grinned at me and said, “But now he’s like way hotter right?”, and Rosey and Symphony nodded, as well as Elliot.

I now turned bright red, and covered my face with my hands.

Elliots arm slinked around my neck as he said, “Yeah totally, he’s soooo much better looking now”, and smiled at me.

The heat in my cheeks was scorching and I was sure I had turned maroon.

“Ok we need to stop teasing Nico before he dies again, of embarrassment this time”, Alex said and hooked his arm through Symphony’s.

They then made a four person chain and sauntered out of the room. Elliot released me from his grasp and tugged at my arm.

“You coming?”, he asked, his eyes full of playful joy.

I smiled at him and said, “Yeah, I just need a moment.”

He nodded and walked out. I turned around and looked at the coffin, not sure how to feel about it. Seeing the thing that wasn’t me lying there. I mean I didn’t quite look like myself in this form, but at least there was nothing that got covered up. I felt the tears well up in my eyes. They quietly flowed down my cheeks and I sank to the floor. I didn’t know why I was crying. Was it because I was leaving my old family and everyone I used to know behind, maybe. I finally pulled myself together enough to stand up and wipe my eyes. I took one last look at the coffin and turned back around. That's when I heard a strange sound. The muffled sound of fabric ruffled. I turned around just in time to see my dead body sit up in its coffin.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4  
We just stared a bit at each other. He didn’t move any more, he seemed just as frozen in the coffin. I didn’t dare move, because it is probably a rarity that reanimated dead are friendly. Modern fiction has taught me that much. When the body moved again I took a surprised step back. It shifted until it swung a very stiff leg out over the edge of the coffin. He swung his other leg over and tumbled off the edge. He rose to his feet, quite unbalanced, and took an unsure step towards me. When he was sure his legs would hold him, he stood, staring. For a moment the silence was deafening. Until he started barreling towards me. I narrowly dodged his outstretched hands, and he zoomed past me. I drew both of my swords holding them ready. As he charged me again, I slashed in a swirl cutting cleanly through his wrist. As it started to fall, a thread reattached it and pulled it back to his body. He curled his fingers testingly before throwing the first punch. It hit me square in the chest and I stumbled backwards. The power behind it was amazing, almost like he had grown ten times stronger after he was reanimated. He kept coming at me, his punches coming one after another. I could at least dodge them, otherwise I would be dead. I slashed at him four times, severing his arms at the elbows and the shoulders. The same thing happened, the strings just pulled him back together. I tried dodging or makin a break for the door, but he cut me off. That’s when the perfect thing happened.

Elliot rounded the corner and said, “Nico what’s taking so long everyone's waiting outsi-”, and then he saw what was happening.

He froze and just gaped at the situation, and I tried to imagine this scenario from his point of view. You walk back to your friend because he’s taking forever and you see him fighting himself with swords drawn. I almost laughed and barely dodged a blow to the jaw. I heard the others footsteps rushing down the hall, but I can’t take my eyes off of my opponent. He kept lunging for my throat, but I kept jumping out of reach. I heard someone shouting something. I finally dodged far enough out of reach to shift my focus onto whoever was yelling stuff at me.

It was Rosey yelling, “Slash him across his chest.”

I was confused for a moment, and that was all my corpse needed to launch me across the room. I hit the ground and rolled a few times before stopping against the wall.I rose to my feet and flashed my weapons. I then charged at him, and he charged at me. As he threw a punch, I ducked under it in a spin, and used the force to slash him across the chest. He squirmed and spasmed until his entire body stiffened and he fell to the floor. I felt that I was actually breathing quite hard. I walked over to my corpse and carried myself over to the coffin. I placed him into the plush interior and put him back the way we found him. That's when I noticed the ink disappearing off his chest.

“Rosey?”, I called out.

He walked up to me and said, “Yeah, whats up?”

“You knew what to do, and there was some ink on his chest, do you know if there’s any connection between that and his reanimation?”, I asked.

He thought for a moment, before he said, “A simple puppeteer spell, able to receive a simple order and comply, when the word ‘Automata’ is destroyed and the magical energy keeping them moving gets depleted and they return to their original state.”

  
I nodded until I realized, “That must mean the hotel is after us.”

  
Rosey’s eyes widened and we ran over to the others.

“We have to leave”, he stammered.

The others just stared weirdly at us until I said, “The hotel knows we’re here.”

 

 

  
They all scrambled over each other, except for Elliot, who just looked at all of them strangely. I walked over to Elliot and grabbed his arms.

“We have to leave and I don’t think you can come with us”, I said.

He just shook his head and said, “I’m not leaving you again.”

  
I looked at him pleadingly and said, “I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if it was my mistakes that got you killed please just listen to me.”

  
He looked away and when he looked back, there was no doubting the pain in his eyes. He nodded in agreement, but clearly not happy about it. We all walked back out, and took the 15 min walk back to Hyde park. We all reached the park unscathed. We decided to say goodbye to Elliot here and strategize what to do next. Elliot didn’t want to say goodbye there and said that we could all stay at his house. We all looked at each other and knew that none of us wanted to sleep outside. We accepted it with huge amounts of gratitude and we walked to his family’s apartment.

He said, “It’s actually very god timing since my parents are on a romantic vacation, and my older brothers have already gone to college.”

  
I chuckle and say, “Oh so the twins are finally studying chemistry huh?”

  
Elliot returns my laugh and said, “Yeah it took a lot of convincing to get them to choose what they wanted, and not to choose something else than the other one.”

We kept on walking until we reached the complex. Elliot unlocked the door and we milled into the lobby. He then led us up to the top floor. He funneled us into the living room and told us to make ourselves comfortable. I slipped of my shoes and sat down at one end of the couch. The others followed my example, but Elliot disappeared into his room.

When he reappeared he threw something at me and said, “Catch.”

Since I was tired and not ready for this at all, the object caught me right in the face and fell into my lap.

“Ow”, I said, rubbing my nose.

He laughed and said, “The theater people gave your things to me, that means your keys, your wallet and your subway card.”

  
I immediately digged through the bag and pulled out aforementioned items. I asked Elliot if he wanted to go shopping for groceries. He agrees and we took a pair of shopping bags an I pulled on my old long coat. I took a deep inhale and recognized the distinct hint of Elliot, along with he normal woolly smell.  
“Did you wear this while I was gone?”, I asked him. He blushed a bit and said, “Yeah, I missed you and that was something you almost always wore.”  
We both chuckled a bit before telling the others we would be back in a bit.

 

 

 

“We’re baaack”, Elliot said jokingly as we walked through the door.

Everyone looked up from the board game they had found and smiled. Well except Blue, but a non-sarcastic smile was a rarity from her. We unpacked everything and started cooking. He was putting together different noodles, vegetables and sauces. I was prepping an easier version of my favorite dish from home, kimchi. We put it into the bowls and set the table. When we called everyone for dinner, they almost came running like little children. I placed the sodas and milks on the table. They all started filling their plates, except for me, as I waited till everyone had taken what they wanted. I then took what I wanted until my plate was sort of filled. I then started eating, using the chopsticks Elliot had provided, their wooden surface feeling comforting in my hand. We were eating and the friendly conversation springing forth on the table was something I hadn’t seen in a while. With Elliot and me sitting across from each other, we caught up with everything that we had missed form our lives. Elliot had started seeing a psychiatrist, and that's when he found out he wanted to study psychology. Symphony heard this and said that she had always wanted to be a psychiatrist. They laughed a bit, but Elliot’s eyes glanced at me before his gaze fell to his food.

“Hey Elliot, did you hear about the time Nico talked his way out of me getting skewered?”, Alex said.

Elliot chuckled and looked at me, and said, “No I never heard that story.”

  
Alex then went into extreme detail about the session of playtime. He told him about my idea to crawl into the trees, but that he was attacked before he could join us. He explained how I had jumped out of the tree and had walked low, almost like talking to a rabid animal. How my voice filled his ears, whispering to his subconscious, and if he’d had a weapon he would have dropped it right there. I tried to tell him that it wasn’t that spectacular, but he cut me off.

“Nico, you have a way with words, and there's no way you can deny that”, he said, waving his fork at me.

I tried to tell him that it wasn’t that big of a deal, but Symphony interrupted saying, “Oh come on you talked your way into the room where Alex and Blue were being held.”

  
When Blue heard this, she turned and looked at me surprised. When I met her eyes she stuck her tongue out at me. I just stared at my empty plate for a bit and after a short while everyone was done eating. We gathered the plates and Elliot started rinsing them off while I loaded them in the dishwasher and put the leftovers in the fridge. While we were doing this, he struck up a conversation.

“How long did it take for you to change?”

“What do you mean?”, I asked him.

“You seem like a different person, not as shy anymore, but most of all, you don’t seem to have missed me at all”, he replied. I looked at him in disbelief.

  
“A different person? Elliot I never changed, and I probably never will. And do you know why it seemed like I didn’t miss you? It’s because I couldn’t bear to realize I would never see you again. When I saw you again, I did everything I could not to break down crying.”

  
He looked at me and started to apologize but I cut him off and said, “It’s ok, I hide my emotions and you had no way of knowing that.”

  
We walked into the living room and saw how everyone was sort of tired. I looked at them and said, “Well I think it’s bedtime.”  
They all sort of laughed sleepily and got up. We all milled into Elliot's room while he got some mattresses. He only had 2 large ones to spare so the girls shared one, Alex and Rosey shared one, and Elliot and I shared his bed. None of us had any pajamas, so the girls borrowed Elliot’s, but the guys had no problem sleeping in their underwear. Except for me, I still felt a little self conscious but I got over it and crawled under the covers so that i was lying closest to the edge. I lay with my back to Elliot and the wall, so was facing the rest of the room. Blue and Symphony were already asleep, and I guessed that from their heavy breathing. Rosey was, what I can only guess is half asleep. Alex seemed wide awake, lying on his back and staring into space. I swung my arm down, and he just sort of glanced at it. He turned onto his side and started fiddling with it. That’s when I felt something else. An arm wrapped around my waist and I felt Elliot press himself against my back. I felt very drowsy and held Alex’ hand as I drifted into sleep, Elliot’s body warmth comforting at my back.

 

 

 

I woke up, Alex’ hand still clutched in mine, and Elliot's face buried in my hair. I pulled my hand back and slipped out of Elliot’s clutches. I grabbed my clothes and walked to the bathroom. I turned on the water and stepped under it. I did this, because I didn’t know the next time I would have a chance to shower. I dried myself off and put my clothes back on. The purple flannel shirt was tied a little lower than before. I walked back into the room and stood in the doorway. I then walked over and sat down at the edge of the bed. Elliot sat up and put his head on my shoulder. He had always been more physical than me, but he had never been this touchy.

“Why are you suddenly so touchy feely?”, I asked, stroking his hair.

He wrapped his arms around the bare strip of my stomach and said, “Well, you’ve been dead for a week, so I need some compensation for everything I missed out on.”

  
I put my hand on his, and he clasped it tight. He then let go of me and walked to his closet, grabbing some clothes before disappearing into the bathroom. I squatted down next to Alex’ head, before squishing his face in my hands. His eyes opened slowly, and he smiled up at me. His ocean like eyes sparkling as he nudged Rosey awake. Rosey woke up with a start, his golden eyes wide in shock. Alex started laughing, and his booming laugh woke up the girls. They both sat up drowsily, Blue’s hair stuck up in spikes and Symphony’s hair was a rats nest. As we all stood up to stretch we lined up outside the bathroom, except for me, as I was sitting on the couch. I decided that we could watch the news while we waited. The TV flickered on and immediately there was something on the news. Rumours of a new gang, dressed in all white with purple here and there. They also had news of a group of people breaking into a funeral home and fighting in the same room as a recently deceased teenage boy Nico Young. I froze. They had news of us entering the building but no footage of the fight inside, but worst of all they showed a picture of my face on screen.

Elliot emerged from the bathroom and just asked, “Nico, why is your face on the news?”

  
“They know that we broke into the funeral home and that there was a fight in the room with Nico’s coffin”, Symphony piped up before squeezing past Elliot into the bathroom.

We all sat in silence listening to the shower water turn on, and spent a while processing what this meant.

 

 

 

We were all jarred out of our thoughts by a violent knock on the door. I was pulled from a train of thought, sitting up straight, and Elliot fell from his napping position against me. Rosey was startled out of the portrait he was drawing of Alex, and Alex nearly dropped his trident he was posing with. Symphony just looked up from Blue’s hair that she was styling into a kind of mohawk.

Elliot scrambled over to it and asked, “Who is it?”

  
“Police”, it sounded.

Elliot looked shocked at us and said, “Down the fire escape, hurry, I’ll meet you in Hyde park.”

  
We all hurried out of the window and scrambled down the fire escape just as we heard Elliot open the door. We all stumbled down the street and rushed to Hyde park, scared to look behind us to see f we were followed. We crossed so many different streets that I completely lost orientation, until we just appeared by Hyde park. We all rushed in andran to the tree where we had crawled into the world of the living. I looked at my friends and gave them a confused look. I asked them.

  
“How come no one stopped us running down the street with all these weapons?”

  
Rosey thought for a moment before saying, “We are something called immortuos, and when something doesn’t quite make sense to mortal onlookers, it is obscured into something they can comprehend, it is called ignorantiae velamen.”

  
I nodded, not understanding how a person or as we’re called, an immortuos with a weapon wouldn’t make sense to a mortal mind, but I decided not to say anything. We stood for a moment, leaning on each other, sitting on the ground, and waiting for Elliot. Then we saw what we thought was him. I stood up and squinted at the figure that looked like my friend.

Alex stood up and said, “There he is”, and waved with a wide smile on his face.

But it couldn’t be, his hair was too vibrant in comparison to Elliot’s darker green. And it was standing up funny, almost curled, different from Elliots straight silk.

“Um guys”, I said, standing up straight, “That isn’t Elliot.”

  
We all stood up, and saw as more brightly haired individuals appeared. Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder and I jumped. I turned and saw Elliot, breathing hard.

  
“I came as fast as I could, and I think I diverted their attention”, he gasped.

I grabbed his chin and turned his head towards the street with the colourful people. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Symphony pull on her gauntlets, Alex grabbing onto his trident, Rosey unsheathing his sword and Blue pulling her axe out of thin air. I pulled out both of my swords.

Elliot tugged at my arm and said, “Give me one, I can fight too.”

  
I told him it was too risky and dangerous. He pouted but understood. I told him to climb up the tree, and he hesitantly complied. As we readied ourselves, the opponent broke into a run. I heard the green haired one yelling orders in, spanish I think. They all pulled out weapons, each of them armed with a straight rod of metal, sparking at one end.

I turned to Blue and Rosey and asked, ”Do you know these people?”

  
Blue shook her head and said, “No, I’m they’re too new” but Rosey nodded.

“The leader is Lime, and she is the newest captain for the seekers, the others are Coral, Jet, Plum, and Lilac. They are quite new, but all of them are strong fighters”, he said.

Seekers, that's what they were. The people with golden eyes and bright hair, the seeker of the noble dead.

We all raised our weapons, and when Alex yelled, “Charge!”, we ran. I now understand why it has been shown that ninjas run with their hands behind them (in anime, I know, don't judge). I almost stabbed myself, but quickly changed the way I was running. And then we clashed.

 

 

 

When we clashed it seemed like the world disappeared. I was sparring with Coral, her long coral hair flowing down her shoulders. The way she moved was mesmerizing, springing elegantly into action and retreating graciously before attacking again. She also did this pretty fast which was impressive. I kept blocking her with my blades, mostly with the shorter one. She then did something that I expected her to do. She jumped into the air and jabbed the rod downward. I fell to the ground and caught it in the cross of my swords.

She smiled and said, “You’re a pretty good fighter.”

  
I smiled back and said, “Thank you, you’re not so bad yourself.”

  
Her smile widened until I kicked her off of me. A hard kick to the side that sent her about 1 ½ meters to my left. I scrambled across the ground to help my friends, but they were doing fine without me. Alex was fighting with Jet, and he caught every one of her jabs with his trident, his face bright with amusement. Rosey was sparring with Lilac, Rosey easily overpowering him, deflecting his weapon multiple times, and even sending it flying more than once, and then waiting for his opponent to pick it up. Symphony was sitting on top of Plum holding his own rod across his neck, while chatting with Rosey. Blue was brutally beating on Lime, as every time Lime attacked she was met with a kick. She was already covered in bruises, and Blue’s face was tight with cold anger. I felt a sharp jolt go through my body as Coral hit my back. I turned around and slashed at her, but she was out of reach, I collapsed to the ground, and started shaking. Alex saw me lying there and rushed over, closely followed by Jet. When he reached me, he suddenly had two opponents, Jet and Coral. He frantically dodged and blocked their attacks, trying to get some hits in. He finally did when he bashed Jet in the forehead, and knocked Coral off her feet. He asked me if I was ok and I gave him a shaky thumbs up. He smiled down at me and helped me up. I was still quite shaky, but I could stand on my own. I grabbed my swords and sheathed them, brushing off the dirt from my clothes. Jet didn’t move but Coral stood up again. She looked at us with murderous intent, until Lime flew into her. I looked over and saw that Blue was laughing hysterically.

Then she giggled out, “Ever be so extra that you hit a wench with another wench”, and she laughed even harder.

Symphony got off of Plum and he was so tired that he just stayed down. Rosey was still sparring with Lilac, but he was still in so much control, that when he saw we we waiting, he knocked Lilac’s weapon out of his hands, and shoved his sword through it, effectively destroying it. Rosey then walked over and joined us.

  
“So”, he said questioning, “What do we do now?”

 

We all just looked at each other.

Elliot jumped out of the tree and said, “Um, whatever you are going to do, you should do it soon, cause I don’t think that those guys are friendly.”

  
We all looked at him and he pointed to the mob of people in white uniforms milling into the park. We looked at each other and agreed. Alex slung Elliot over his shoulder and we ran like the wind. Across the paths, between trees, over flowerbeds, until we couldn’t see the soldiers anymore. We all stood for a moment, catching our breath from the long sprint. Elliot was put down on the ground, clearly not very happy about being carried.

That’s when we heard a voice, “Prohibere.”

 

 

 

 

I was lucky that I was crouched on the ground. My friends, not so much. They all froze, staring out into space. My nerves still felt jumbled but I rose up looking for our opponent. And that’s when I saw him, Henry.

“Henry”, I said through gritted teeth, “What are you doing?”

  
He looked in my direction his cloudy eyes full of discomfort.

“I’m bringing you home”, he said his hands shaking nervously.

“You dare”, I said taking a threatening step towards him, “To freeze your friends under the assumption that you are taking them home?”

  
He must have heard my voice come closer because he took a step back.

He then sighed and said, “Nico, I don’t want to hurt you or the others, so just come quietly.”

  
I raised my swords and said, “No”, putting as much power into my voice as possible.

I saw him hesitate a bit, but he then said, “What an impressive voice you have, to bad your feeble siren powers won’t work on me.”

  
I walked up right in front of him and said, “I don’t think that you think my power is feeble, you think its powerful, you are afraid.”

  
I put special attention on the last word, forcing his mind to bow to my words. I saw the fear blossom inside him, but at the last second before it hit its peak, he laughed.

“You really had me there, but it won’t work. I am the most powerful conjurist in the entire hotel, dedicating my entire afterlife to learning the arts, you can’t defeat me.”

  
I smiled and said, “I don’t need to defeat you, just distract you.”

  
He looked confused, and even more when I flicked his forehead. I heard a shattering sound, as the spell he had cast was broken. His looked of confusion morphed into one of irritation. I smiled sweetly and walked over to our friends.

  
“You have a choice you know Henry, you could join us”.

  
“Oh I know”, Henry said, raising his hands, “But I’ll choose the place that lets me keep living.”

He lifted his palms and said, “Crepitos.”

A single word lit up on his wrist and his palms grew hot.

I yelled, “Scatter!”

We all ran in different directions, and just as we did, an explosion shook the ground. I looked back and saw the place we had been was scorched.

He then waved his hand across the landscape and repeated, “CREPITOS!”

We all hit the ground, as explosion after explosion broke the ground apart, raining dirt down over us. I scrambled low to the ground, running for my life as he kept shooting blasts after us. My ears were ringing and entire face was hot. I then barked out an order so powerful no one could resist.

“STOP!”, I yelled, my dry throat burning in the scorched air.

Henry looked at me, confusion clear in his eyes, just enough for me to tackle him. He let out a grunt as we crashed to the ground. I pulled out my long sword and held it to his throat, pinning his arms to the ground with my knees.

“Why are you doing this”, I hoarsely demanded.

He looked at me and said, “I never asked to die the first time, so I might as well do something with what I have. I couldn’t stand by and watch as you attacked and abandoned the ones who gave you life in the darkness of death, you ungrateful children”.

Actual hate poured out of his eyes as he stared up at me.

I sighed and quietly said, “Henry, put out these fires, forget you saw us and return to your supervisors”.

His eyes glazed over and I rose off of him, ad sheathed my sword. He got to his feet, and spread his hands.

“Extinctus.”

The fires died down and reduced to smoking mounds, as he turned to me. He shook his head squinted before turning around and going back from whence he came.

My friends walked over and asked, “What the hell happened?”

I shook my head and said, “Nothing worth talking about, but we need to go.”

  
They’re expressions were grim, but Elliot pouted. It was clear that he wasn’t happy about this decision, and that my way of talking was making him uncomfortable. We started walking, with me in the back, when I felt a hand slither into mine. I looked over and saw Elliot walking next to me. I gently tried pulling my hand back, but he kept holding on. I squeezed his hand tight and we slowed down, as it seemed as though he wanted to talk.

He looked at me and asked, “How can you do it?”

I looked at him and I realized he was talking about the thing I can do, my other voice.

“I don’t know, it showed up more after I died, but there were hints befo-”

  
“No I mean, how can you bear controlling people?”

I looked away and said, “I can’t bear it, I feel awful and manipulative, and I honestly hate every part of it. But if I don’t do it, it will harm so many people. So rather have me suffer than so many others.”

  
He looked at me shocked and said, “Don’t think that way, I don’t want you to.”

  
I chuckled and said, “Isn’t it frustrating how little of a chance you have at stopping me?”

When we reached a body of water called “The Serpentine” they turned to us.

Rosey stepped forward and said, “We have to go and I’m sorry but we cannot under any circumstance bring Elliot.”

  
Elliot tried to protest but Rosey cut him off, “No, absolutely not, no matter how hard either you or Nico begs, it is too dangerous to bring you along. Besides, you have a family, something that no one here has.”

  
Elliot looked around confused and asked, “None of you?”

  
They all shook their heads. Blue stepped forward and said, “I watched the last of my brothers grandchildren get put in the ground a couple of years ago, they had no kids. I watched my own bloodline end.”

  
Symphony shyly said, “My entire family died alongside me in a beating.”

  
Alex looked away and said, “I might have some descendants here somewhere, but as far as I know, I have no family left.”

  
Rosey wiped the tears from his eyes and said, “I tried reconnecting with my family but was shamed by my parents, cousins, nieces nephews, even my siblings grandkids. They said I was a fraud, and even threatened to call the police on me for faking a death.”

I looked at them, all of them without any kind of family.

“How did you cope with it?”, Elliot asked carefully.

Alex looked him dead in the eyes and said, “I drank wine consistently for a few decades.”

  
Symphony replied, “I buried all of my feelings and didn’t leave my room for a couple of years after my death.”

  
Blue just said, “Trapped in a rubber room for a month.”

Rosey’s response was the most shocking.

“I ripped every inch of flesh off of my body, day after day, killing myself again and again for a whole week.”

  
“Oh”, was Elliot's only response, and I stayed quiet.

Elliot went around saying his goodbyes, but when he reached me, he asked to speak to me privately.

“Just, be quick, we still don’t know how far they are behind us.”

  
Elliot pulled me a bit away, just to the banks of The Serpentine. He looked into my eyes, his dark ones shimmering in the morning light.

  
“What did you want to talk about?”, I asked him, pushing my hair out of my eyes.

He looked at me and asked, “Do you really have to go?”

  
I nodded and said, “I’m so sorry, but it’s to protect you. If I stay, these attacks will become more frequent, they will stop at nothing to capture us.”

He looked down at the ground and then looked up and said, “Then I’ll join you in the afterlife.”

  
I shook my head and said, “You will do no such thing, I would not be able to live with myself if you died, even if you came back. This is not living”, I gestured at my body, “This is a prolonged state of consciousness. I am a warrior and that’s why I’m like this.”

  
He looked down at the ground, and I grabbed his hands.

  
“Promise that you’ll stay alive”, I said, tilting his head up.

He nodded and said, “I promise”.

I turned away, but he held on to me.

When I turned to look at him he said, “Oh jeez”, before pulling me in close, and mashing his face against mine.

His warm lips intertwined themselves with mine, making my entire body tingle. His wonderful warmth filled my mouth, an my body. His lips tasted of mint and sweetness, and he caught my lip in his teeth, before he pulled back. The tears were flowing down his cheeks. I was stunned, but before I could say anything Alex yelled,

“Nico, they’re here!”


End file.
